Published 1:00 am, Sunday, October 2, 2005

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DANBURY - The city didn't need to give BRT General Corp. a tax break to build 114 apartments and 500 condominiums downtown.

At least that's what Dean Esposito, Democratic candidate for mayor, argued Wednesday in another salvo from his campaign against the pro-corporate policies of Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
"We're saturated with condominiums and multi-family housing in the city. Our traffic is a mess. Our high school is one of the largest in the state, and we're expanding our middle schools," Esposito said. "It all comes from over-development."
Esposito said developers don't need tax breaks to build housing in Danbury. They never did.
"It is absolutely clear that the mayor has ignored the interests of middle-class Danbury so that a few connected contractors can reap a windfall," Esposito said. "How are these condominiums and apartments going to impact our schools? How are they going to effect traffic?"
"What is the impact of this tax break on the taxpayer of Danbury?" Esposito asked. "I can see giving incentives to corporations like Boehringer Ingelheim or Cendant, to bring jobs to town. That's economic development. Housing never needed a hand getting built in Danbury."
The tax break on what the city calls "market-rate" condominiums and apartments was intended to encourage developers to take a chance on a downtown site.
The former director of Economic Development, James Bellano said the BRT tax break is a measured attempt to encourage pedestrian traffic downtown.
"They buy a condo, they walk on the street and shop in the shops," Bellano said. He explained state law would let the city offer this break city-wide. He said Danbury didn't do that. It's goal is to encourage the rebirth of downtown.
Dan Bertram, executive vice president and chief operating officer for BRT, said the tax incentive gave him tremendous confidence to go forward and buy the land. (He paid $7.5 million this spring for the former Amphenol factory and 9.5 acres on Kennedy Avenue.) It encouraged him to spend $100,000 investigating environmental concerns on the site.
He said the tax break indicates the city is supportive of the project.
It helps BRT by providing a selling-point for potential buyers. Those who purchase units will pay no real property taxes - taxes on the condominium itself - for seven years. They will pay taxes to the downtown tax district and taxes on their share of the land at the condominium project.
"What that did was give me a level of confidence that if we're offering a unit for $275,000 and someone else in town is offering a unit for $275,000, mine will have an advantage," Bertram said.
Money made selling units in the first building or buildings will be used to finance later buildings.
Boughton said the city's Comprehensive Plan of Conservation and Development called for condominiums and apartments downtown. The theory behind the plan says the condominiums will attract people with money to spend in downtown restaurants and shops, so other developers will build restaurants and shops for the new residents.
"The tax incentives are geared toward the owners of the condos, not to BRT. This will encourage people with money to spend money living downtown. It will spin off new businesses. It's consistent with the plan of development and what previous administrations did to encourage investment downtown, such as Liberty Terrace," Boughton said.
Liberty Terrace is a condominium project in the late 1980s and early 1990s on Liberty Street that offered incentives to city employees to move downtown.
The BRT project will be designed to attract young couples without children and empty-nesters who are interested in the convenience and amenities of downtown living. Prices are expected to start at $250,000.
The Amphenol factory building will be demolished over the next several weeks.
Bertram is fine-tuning the condominium plans. He said details of the project are what will attract people to buying downtown, so getting them right is worth the extra time. When the plans are completed, he will present them to the city for approval.
The project will be constructed in phases, starting in 2006.